


The Throne

by oaken



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Ending, Episode Ignis, Ficlet, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 15:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13344084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oaken/pseuds/oaken
Summary: Lucis was ready for its King, and the King was now ready for Lucis.





	The Throne

**Author's Note:**

> I loved the alternate take on the ending in Episode Ignis. So here's my contribution to this topic.

Dawn broke, and he inhaled for what felt like the first time in eternity. The air, clean, crisp and with the scent of fading homesickness to it, filled his lungs. It eased the longing pains that he had decided to bear without medicine. They made him feel alive, reminded that the light had returned to the realm once more. The pain made it all seem real.

Noctis took a step closer to the throne, a step that rang clear like a bell in the empty throne room. It bounced off the walls before dissipating. When silence fell again moments later, Noctis found himself face to face with the throne. It sat vacant as it had for more than a decade, awaiting him. Awaiting a sacrifice he had not brought.

With a faint smile on his face, the man recalled always feeling too small for it, no matter the age or height.

The feeling had rooted itself in Noctis’ heart when he was a young child. Father had lifted him into the soft crimson seat and stepped back to let his son look around the throne room. It was drowning in the sweetness of the spring air and sunlight that day. Despite the warmth that had seeped itself inside past the heavy door and his father’s smile, though, Noctis found himself terrified.

Curious feet that swung in the air had stilled the moment he took a look around himself. The throne he was seated upon was overwhelming, heavy and serious just like the destiny that loomed overhead - something Noctis had not known at the time yet, merely felt like an ever-present shadow. The golden statues were the ones to scare him back then. They towered in the corners of his field of vision, watching. Judging. They must have been.

The fear got the better of him, and Noctis ran. He hopped off the throne and rushed right into Regis’ arms, hands clinging on to the King’s jacket, face buried in his stomach. After that day he was never seated on the throne again. At least not until this day when he was about to take it as his rightful seat on his own accord.

Serious eyes of the young man rose to meet the sprawling golden figures on both sides of the throne without fear. Time had changed his outlook. He’d seen demons, he’d seen monsters and faced them all. Childhood fears had no hold of his heart any longer.

Noctis turned on his heel and closed his eyes. With a slow, steady movement he sunk into the seat before opening his eyes and looking straight ahead. An exhale came and with it, some of the nervousness behind the strong facade rushed out of him as well. Lucis was ready for its King, and the King was now ready for Lucis.

Noctis traced his fingertips along the black marble of the armrests, decorated with gold and cool to the touch. His father’s ghost still lingered behind. It would take time for Noctis to grow enough to fit the crown he was about to wear, but he was willing to take on that challenge.

Not for the sake of an entire world or a prophecy that doomed him. Not even to live up to the expectations everyone seemed to have of the young ruler-to-be. None of that mattered, and it had always felt like shackles that bound Noctis to his destiny against his will.

So he didn’t choose to live and die for any of that. He did it for  _them_. For Luna’s smile, for father’s kind eyes, for the loyalty of his friends. The whole world paled in comparison to them.

“I will continue to walk tall,” he promised to the empty throne room, the echo of the words swallowed in silence mere moments later.

After that, the throne room didn’t feel cold and empty any longer. Light streamed through the tall windows, and dust particles danced in the rays of the sun. The air smelled like new beginnings that Noctis awaited with a clear gaze and a steadfast heart.


End file.
